From mind-blowing glass mansions to chic Hamptons estates, here are ten movie digs that make us want to crawl right into the silver screen

From mind-blowing glass mansions to chic Hamptons estates, here are ten movie digs that make us want to crawl right into the silver screen

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Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

This gorgeous home turns the traditional cottage style of a Hamptons home (wood shingles, white trim work, French doors) into an expansive, elegant beachside estate. The space is one that’s both gorgeous and livable, and one whose architecture and decoration have been much copied and referenced since its debut in 2003, making it one of the most notable movie dream spaces. The movie couples a past-his-prime womanizer (Jack Nicholson) with a successful independent playwright and divorcée (Diane Keaton), and it definitely fits the bill, providing the perfect setting to stir up an unlikely romance.

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Lake House (2006)

Lake House (2006)

This innovative and modern home on stilts was actually a film set that was dismantled at the end of the production of this popular romantic comedy. The film tells the story of an architect (Keanu Reaves) who, through the mailbox of his former lake house, exchanges life stories with the new tenant (Sandra Bullock), but two years later. Way more than the time-travel love story, it’s the focus on architecture that really sells us. Set in Chicago, the film frequently pays tribute to the city’s great and influential architectural history—in one scene, a character even refers to this house with a low, sweeping roofline and window-filled walls as “Le Corbusier meets Frank Lloyd Wright.”

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

This gorgeous home turns the traditional cottage style of a Hamptons home (wood shingles, white trim work, French doors) into an expansive, elegant beachside estate. The space is one that’s both gorgeous and livable, and one whose architecture and decoration have been much copied and referenced since its debut in 2003, making it one of the most notable movie dream spaces. The movie couples a past-his-prime womanizer (Jack Nicholson) with a successful independent playwright and divorcée (Diane Keaton), and it definitely fits the bill, providing the perfect setting to stir up an unlikely romance.

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Lake House (2006)

This innovative and modern home on stilts was actually a film set that was dismantled at the end of the production of this popular romantic comedy. The film tells the story of an architect (Keanu Reaves) who, through the mailbox of his former lake house, exchanges life stories with the new tenant (Sandra Bullock), but two years later. Way more than the time-travel love story, it’s the focus on architecture that really sells us. Set in Chicago, the film frequently pays tribute to the city’s great and influential architectural history—in one scene, a character even refers to this house with a low, sweeping roofline and window-filled walls as “Le Corbusier meets Frank Lloyd Wright.”

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Stepmom (1998)

In the classic late ’90s tearjerker Stepmom, a terminally ill mother (Susan Sarandon) struggles in her turbulent relationship with her ex-husband’s new, younger wife (Julia Roberts). This traditional Victorian home located in upstate New York not only amps up the contrast between Sarandon and Roberts (who lives in an urban Manhattan loft) but all plotlines aside—with its wraparound porch, quaint dormers, and masses of windows—it’s a warm and cozy house that just begs us to come home.

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Glass House (2001)

In this thriller starring Leelee Sobieski and Diane Lane, two children move into their former neighbors’ home upon their parents’ death. And while their new foster parents might be villains out for control of the children’s trust fund, we can’t help but admire their choice in architecture. We’d love to retreat to this modernist glass house on a hill—without the creepy maniac tenants, of course.

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Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

In this charming romantic comedy, a divorced writer (Diane Lane) purchases a villa on a whim while on vacation in Italy and begins an extensive renovation. And when you take a look at this home, it’s not hard to see why. An actual 300-year-old house in Italy, with overgrown foliage, salmon-colored stucco, and a classic tiled roof—it has irresistible Tuscan charm. Plus, who hasn’t had this dream of transplanting to Europe, at least once?

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Twilight (2008)

This luscious wood-paneled home plays the Cullen family mansion in the first film of the vampire saga, Twilight. With unusual angles, an extensive set of decks and patios, and a second story that literally juts out into thin air, the tree house-like home is a modern, wooded retreat. Designed by Skylab Architects, the space is a real residence in Portland, Oregon, though special effects were used to create the heavily wooded look of the surrounding area.

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Sabrina (1995)

This modern remake of the 1954 original pairs a butler’s daughter (Julia Ormond) and his employer’s overworked son (Harrison Ford). Most of the scenes are set in the exquisite “Larrabee Mansion,” which is actually a famous Long Island, New York, estate and the former home of J.P. Morgan’s son. Built in the style of an English manor house, featuring ivy-covered stone, nine perfectly positioned dormers, and lush formal and informal gardens, it’s the perfect setting for this improbable society romance.

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Iron Man (2008)

This massive, Jetsons-esque beach home is just the setting for billionaire industrialist and master engineer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). The extreme Malibu coastline may have been superimposed for the film but the structure is an actual house just north of San Diego. Ocean view or not, the huge expanses of windows and undulating cement structure make for true modernist dream home.

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Grey Gardens (2009)

In HBO’s 2009 fictional drama about the making of the documentary, Grey Gardens, which chronicled the lives of Jackie O’s Hamptons relatives, the infamous summer mansion was so integral to the film that HBO ended up building a full imitation façade in its honor (in less than six weeks). With white shutters, a gray-shingled façade, and an inviting front porch, this classic 1930s imitation has all the charm of the real deal.

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Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

When a woman (Julia Roberts) fakes her own death to flee an abusive husband and leave her old life behind, she says goodbye to this amazing beach house, as well. In stark white with rigid angles, sleek railings, and masses of windows, this minimalist so-called Cape Cod beach house is actually a resort hotel just outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. The massive hotel was shot exclusively from angles that obscured enough of the building to make it appear to be a house.